Monthly Wrap Up – November 2020
This month was slow starting for me in terms of reading, I’m not sure why but I was in a bit of a slump! Maybe it was because I was being good and not doing a monthly haul this month so I didn’t feel that I had to race through to get to my new books. It definitely picked up
I’ve tried to focus more on blog tour books and review requests this month in the spirit of ‘Galleyathon’ – even if they didn’t all come from NetGalley specifically!
Books read this month
This month I read a total of 13 books (7 physical and 6 ebooks)
- The Ruby Locket by Melissa Wray
- The Fathers, the Sons and the Anxious Ghost by Jamie Adams (Blog tour)
- Nevernight by Jay Kristoff
- The Smallest Man by Frances Quinn (ARC / Blog tour)
- There’s No Such Thing As An Easy Job by Kikuko Tsumura
- The Inugami Curse by Seishi Yokomizo (ARC)
- The Dragon Republic by R.F. Kuang
- The Decagon House Murders by Yukito Ayatsuji (ARC)
- Fae Child by Jane-Holly Meissner (Blog tour)
- Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam
- Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
- Nothing Good Happens After Midnight edited by Jeffery Deaver (ARC / Blog tour)
- Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata
Favourite books read this month
Nevernight by Jay Kristoff
This is the first in the Nevernight chronicle series which is definitely one that I will be finishing after such a strong start! I adored this fantasy novel, I loved the world, the characters and the tone of the novel. I wasn’t expecting this novel to have as much humour in it as it does which I really loved.
There’s No Such Thing As An Easy Job by Kikuko Tsumura
In this novel Tsumura brilliantly captures work burnout and jumping from job to job as a temp. I especially loved how each job wasn’t exactly what it seemed and there was some kind of mystery surrounding them.
The Dragon Republic by R.F. Kuang
It’s no surprise that this made it onto this list as I loved The Poppy War. All the characters were wonderfully developed and you could clearly see how they were impacted from the first novel. This was a brilliant second instalment to the series and had me incredibly excited for the last novel The Burning God.
The Decagon House Murders by Yukito Ayatsuji
I do love a good detective fiction novel and this is one of the best that I have ever read. It simultaneously feels like a classic detective fiction novel but it also feels very contemporary and subversive in some ways, despite the novel originally being published in the 1980s.
Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam
I can’t remember the last time a book left me as unsettled as this one. Alam has such a way with words and tone that you feel suffocated from the very pages, yet you can’t help yourself but keep turning them. Alam also clearly understands people as his characters don’t feel like characters at all, but people you have met in passing instead.
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